The nine-year-old Jack Russell and star of new film The Artist is currently in London for a round of promotional television appearances, including on The Graham Norton Show, and even a special West End screening, in aid of the Dogs Trust charity.

His scene stealing appearance in the film has won such rave reviews that the dog is even generating Oscar buzz, with an online campaign calling on the organisers to relax their rules on honouring non-human actors.

It was almost so different for the dog, who, as a puppy, was only just saved from a shelter for abandoned pets and a very uncertain fate.

Like many Hollywood veterans, the Californian-born dog has a hell-raising past. He went through at least two owners who rejected him because he was too wild.

He was about to be taken to a dog pound when Omar Von Muller, an animal trainer working in the film industry, was alerted to his plight by friends.

Related Articles

Mr Von Muller spotted the animal’s potential and trained him up. Soon, Uggie was cutting his acting teeth in adverts, featuring in dozens of campaigns, before the film work picked up.

He appeared in What’s Up, Scarlet?, Wassup Rockers, and Mr. Fix It, before his big break alongside Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson in the romantic drama Water for Elephants. The film gave Uggie his first named role, as “Queenie”, and helped him win the part of “dog” in The Artist.

The film is the tribute to the silent movie era and in it, Uggie plays the best friend of a fading matinee idol George Valentin, played by Jean Dujardin.

As a silent film, it does not stretch the dog’s vocal range, but he does display an array of skills, among them playing dead, walking on his hind legs and hiding his head in his paws. In the film’s most dramatic scene, he saves Dujardin’s character from a burning house.

He had two stunt doubles on the set – one called Dash and one called Dude – but in the event, they were hardly needed as Uggie did his own stunts. Other skills on his CV include skate boarding and waterskiing.

“He was a crazy, very energetic puppy,” Mr Von Muller said. “And who knows what would have happened to him if he gone to the dog pound. But he was very smart and very willing to work. One of the most important thing is that he was not afraid of things. That is what makes or breaks a dog in the movies, whether they are afraid of lights, and noises and being on sets. He gets rewards, like sausages, to encourage him to perform, but that is only a part of it. He works hard.”

Uggie, who arrived in London last week after becoming one of the first to take advantage of a relaxation of the UK’s quarantine laws, is approaching his tenth birthday and Mr Von Muller said he was approaching retirement.

“He is getting older and I wouldn’t want to put him through long hours like on this movie. He was on the set doing very long hours for a couple of months. If we get other jobs, he will go on. But not if the jobs are so intense.”

The film has six Golden Globe nominations and is tipped to sweep the board at the Oscars. For his part, Uggie was awarded the Palm Dog at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Now in its 11th year, the award goes to the best canine performance in a film screened in the festival.

The Oscar organisers remain unmoved by the internet campaign calling for an award for Uggie, but the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has already tried to head off controversy after receiving several enquiries about the dog’s eligibility for a Bafta.

It wrote to members saying: “Regretfully, we must advise that as he is not a human being and as his unique motivation as an actor was sausages, Uggie is not qualified to compete for the Bafta in this category.”

However, Mr Von Muller said Uggie, who is staying with his owner in a suite in a five star, central London hotel, should be eligible for an award.

“People say that dogs in films are just doing what they are told. But an actor is just following the director’s orders. They say that a dog is only working for sausages, but an actor is only doing it for his paycheck.”